by Abby Green
Lia dragged her gaze up from those hands and ignored the illicit flutter in her abdomen at the sudden image of a romantic candlelit dinner on the beach. She was silent as she followed him through the villa again and upstairs. Several bedrooms lay off a wide corridor there, with a luxurious runner carpet, and then he walked across a balconied atrium. He opened a door and said, ‘This is your room.’
She looked at him suspiciously, and he said with a wide-eyed innocence that she didn’t trust for a second, ‘What? Did you not think I would be civilised enough to give you your own room? I’ve told you already—whatever happens will be mutual.’
Lia slipped into the room before he could see her discomfiture. She wasn’t used to men being so...up-front. And on some level she wasn’t sure what she’d expected. One thing she had to admit was that she felt in no danger at all. Her prevailing feeling was that any danger would come from her own reactions.
She dropped her shoes to the floor and walked over to where huge open doors led out to a balcony that looked out on the beach and the sea, just yards away. It was stunning. Just then a small bird flew past, with an iridescent flash of exotic colours. She realised with a sense of irony that the man wouldn’t have to resort to any kind of force—this place could seduce a woman all on its own.
When she turned around he gestured. ‘There’s an en suite bathroom through there, and a dressing room.’
Curious, Lia looked into the massive bathroom. It was gorgeous—with a wet room shower and a huge claw-footed bath. A very feminine part of her sighed in appreciation.
And then through an adjoining door she saw what must be the dressing room. She walked in and gasped when she saw that it was full of clothes, all brand-new, with designer tags still dangling from the expensive fabrics.
Other doors that led back to the main bedroom were pulled open and Benjamin Carter leant nonchalantly against the doorframe, with a faint smile on his face that smacked irritatingly of a man watching a woman having the desired reaction when she saw a closet full of beautiful clothes.
She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes on him, bristling at that look. ‘So this is your seduction routine for the women you bring here? Frankly, it takes more than a closet full of expensive clothes to get my interest. I’m not that shallow or spoilt—no matter what you might believe.’
Something flashed in his eyes and for a second Lia thought he’d taken offence. He didn’t move, but she could sense his tension.
‘Actually, I’ve never brought a woman here before. But I do loan the villa to friends and business acquaintances. I keep the two master suites stocked with clothes because the nearest boutique is in Salvador. A stylist I employ checks the stock after each visit and removes the clothes that have been worn, which are then given to a local charity.’
Lia felt ashamed of her quick judgement. This wasn’t like her... But he pushed her buttons like no one else. And had he really never brought a woman here? She tried to read his now expressionless face and had to admit that a man like him wouldn’t lie about that. Why would he need to?
The realisation that it must be some sort of sanctuary for him made her feel even more vulnerable. She weakly chose deflection to avoid acknowledging the revelation that she was the first woman he’d brought here.
‘Well,’ she said stiffly, ‘that’s very generous of you, but I’ve brought my own clothes.’ She belatedly realised that her autumn/winter clothes would obviously be totally unsuitable in this climate.
Ben straightened from the door now, and for the first time since she’d met him Lia sensed a slight chill in the air. Contrary to the way she would have expected to feel, she didn’t like it.
He glanced at his watch. ‘It’s my first time here this year, so I have a few maintenance things to catch up on. Make yourself at home. There’s plenty of food in the kitchen if you’d like a snack. And you’ve seen where the beach is—it’s entirely private, so you won’t be disturbed.’
And then he turned to walk out. A veritable cauldron of emotions rendered Lia immobile and speechless for a moment as she watched him leave. There was anger that he’d all but kidnapped her, but that was fading in light of these all too seductive surroundings and the fact that he was giving her space.
And then she castigated herself for being so easily duped—because he had to have an agenda. And she needed to remember that. Because something was shifting, and if she wasn’t careful she’d be falling under a spell she might not be able to resist.
She hurried to the door of the bedroom in her bare feet and saw his broad back descending the stairs. ‘If this is all just to get to my father then you might as well send me back to New York right now,’ she blurted out. ‘Because I would never let someone seduce me to get to him.’
* * *
Ben stopped in his tracks. Frustration still coursed through his blood. Never had a woman so comprehensively stonewalled him. And certainly not one who wanted him. And never had a woman had such an obviously low opinion of him. To his utter chagrin, when usually he couldn’t care less what people thought of him, he found himself caring about her opinion.
She looked at him as if he was something stuck on the bottom of her shoe, even as that pulse beat hectically under her skin at her neck, every time he came close.
Slowly he turned around, jaw tight, teetering on the edge of telling her that he’d arrange for her to be taken back to Salvador, but then he saw her hovering by the doorway, and that compulsion died a death when he saw the expression on her face. There was still defiance, but there was also something he hadn’t seen before—a kind of wary uncertainty. A hint of vulnerability. It made him think of the fleeting look of hurt he thought he’d seen when he’d called her a princess. And the moment of sheer terror on her face when her friend had asked her to step in for the model at the charity auction.
In bare feet, and still wearing that decadent dress which was badly creased by now, with her hair loose and mussed around her shoulders after the long journey, she looked more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen in his life.
And he wanted her.
Ben slowly came back up the stairs, seeing how her eyes widened. She was tense, too, and it wasn’t just from anger at his commandeering of this situation. She was tense because of him, because she wanted him, and suddenly Ben knew that there was no way he was letting her go.
He stopped a few feet away from her. ‘I won’t stand here and insult your intelligence by denying that I have an interest in your father’s business...but right now I’m not concerned with that.’
Ben was surprised to find that he really wasn’t. Right now all his interest was focused on one thing. Lia. And making her acquiesce to him.
She swallowed and his eyes tracked the movement down the slim column of her throat.
Finally she said, in those cut-glass tones, ‘You won’t get anywhere with me, Mr Carter, so I think it would be best if we just kept ourselves to ourselves until it’s time to go home.’
Ben almost felt sorry for her as he answered, ‘You really shouldn’t issue a challenge like that, Lia...’
CHAPTER FOUR
‘YOU REALLY SHOULDN’T issue a challenge like that...’
That evening, Benjamin Carter’s words still resounded in Lia’s head. Damn the man.
After pacing her sumptuous room for a couple of hours that morning, she’d finally explored the dressing room. Determined to make the most of this situation, she’d kitted herself out in a modest bathing suit and some beach attire. After helping herself to a light lunch in the kitchen she’d headed to the beach.
There had been no sign of Benjamin Carter, much to her relief, but she had heard some noises that sounded as if they were coming from the front of the house. Not wanting to face him in a diaphanous beach cover-up, she’d found an idyllic spot on the beach under the shade of a palm tree, out of immediate sight of the villa.
For a few hours she had almost fooled herself that she was on a vacation she’d chosen willingly. She’d doze
d, swum, and read a book that she’d pulled off the shelf in the comfortable den.
She’d returned to the villa as dusk was falling and had nearly tripped over her own feet when she’d seen a half-naked Ben Carter perched precariously on the terracotta rooftop of the villa. Her eyes had been immediately drawn to the sleek muscles of his broad back, moving sinuously under his skin as he’d hammered something into a slate.
The fact that he had been laughing and joking with another man, whose ebony skin had also been gleaming with exertion, had gone largely unnoticed. Carter had been wearing nothing but a faded pair of board shorts and battered-looking sneakers.
Lia had almost jumped out of her skin when a melodious and mischievous-sounding voice had said near her ear, ‘Not a bad sight at the end of a hot day, hmm?’
She’d looked to her left to see a startlingly pretty young woman, with skin the colour of warm chocolate, eyes to match and a huge smile. With a colourful scarf on her head, she had blended into the exotic background perfectly.
The woman had introduced herself as Esmé, and after explaining that the other man was her husband had said, ‘I was just coming to find you. Ben sends his apologies for being busy all afternoon but says he’ll look forward to you joining him for dinner at eight.’
Lia had been about to demur when she’d realised she was being ridiculous, and that this nice woman didn’t deserve to be put out just because the last person she wanted to have dinner with was her host.
Are you so sure about that? a little voice had crowed.
In any event, Lia had made her escape from the provocative view of a far less civilised Benjamin Carter before he’d been able to turn around and see her reaction, which was confusing to her on so many levels. Since when had she found men doing manual labour particularly enticing? And why did the sight of him doing something so earthy appeal to her so much?
She cursed her revolving thoughts now, as she debated what to wear after her shower. A part of her wanted to wear jeans and a shirt, but then she thought of the mocking look in Carter’s eyes when he registered that she was obviously trying not to make an effort. So instead she picked out a simple black silk dress that had a scooped neckline and a gathered waist. It fell to her knees. Positively nun-like. Perfect.
After applying a minimum of make-up, and pulling her hair back into a low bun, she slid on her own kitten heel shoes and made her way downstairs, noticing that she was just on time. She was just grumbling to herself that she was pathologically incapable of being late, even if she wanted to be, when Carter appeared in the lobby below, with a bottle of wine in one hand and a glass in the other.
He’d been transformed from manual labourer back to suave, elegant businessman, in dark charcoal-coloured trousers and a light grey shirt. Lia could see that his normally unruly hair looked damp, and was bombarded with an X-rated image of him in a shower, with water sluicing down over those impressive muscles.
‘Esmé told me she’d found you. I apologise again for leaving you to your own devices but after Joao—Esmé’s husband—offered his services for the afternoon, we managed to get all the maintenance jobs done at once.’
Lia wasn’t quite sure how she’d made it down the stairs, but now she was standing only a few feet away from him. Something about his easy manner and her sense of this villa feeling far too familiar, even after such a short time, was very disconcerting.
Her voice was husky. ‘I wasn’t expecting you to entertain me. I had a lovely afternoon on the beach.’
His voice had a faintly disbelieving tone. ‘You weren’t bored?’
Lia shook her head, realising that the afternoon had been far more pleasant than she’d even admitted to herself. And if she had felt a tiny sense of loneliness it hadn’t been for the company of this man, she assured herself fiercely, and got a grip on her wayward emotions. She put it down to the after-effects of the sun.
‘I swam and read a book. I haven’t had a chance to do that for a long time.’
He didn’t respond, but Lia could imagine that Carter believed she meant since her last luxury holiday. She bit back the urge to disabuse him of that notion. She didn’t care what his opinion of her was... All that mattered was putting up with this weekend for the sake of his charitable donation.
Lia followed him into the salon, where the lights had been dimmed and candles flickered invitingly. The air was still warm after the day, and it was heavenly after the biting breeze of autumn in New York.
Carter turned from where he was opening some wine at a drinks cabinet. ‘Would you like a glass? It’s from a good friend’s vineyard in Argentina.’
Lia was about to say no, but then something stopped her. A rogue desire to give in to this seductive relaxation. So she nodded and took the glass of chilled white wine, noticing that Ben Carter had picked up a glass of what looked like water. She recalled that he hadn’t ordered alcohol on their date—or non-date. And he hadn’t been drinking at the charity auction.
‘You don’t drink?’ she heard herself asking, before she could stop the words.
He shook his head and gestured for her to take a seat on the couch behind her. He sat on another couch, on the other side of the coffee table, his arm spread across the back, his big body dominating the space easily.
Lia looked away and took a sip of wine. It slid down her throat like cool silk, its bouquet flooding her senses and making her head instantly light. And even though she wasn’t looking at him his image was burned into her retinas. He reminded Lia of a lounging pasha she’d seen once in a painting, surrounded by a bevy of exotic beauties. The civilised surroundings didn’t diminish his robust masculinity at all. And that provocative memory of him half-naked wasn’t helping.
He eventually supplied, ‘I don’t drink. At all.’
She couldn’t keep averting her gaze, so she looked back to see that his expression was almost challenging. She just shrugged, as if her curiosity wasn’t as piqued as it was. ‘I don’t drink much myself...a couple of glasses is usually my limit.’
Some of the tension seemed to go out of his shoulders. The thought of him having had a drink problem... She just couldn’t see it. He was way too in control. Perhaps it had something to do with his upbringing?
Just then Esmé appeared at the entrance of the room and told them dinner was served. Ben stood and let Lia precede him out of the room to the dining room next door, similarly dimly lit, with candles flickering.
A table was set with a white tablecloth and silver. It was very romantic. And that, along with her sudden curiosity to know more about this man, made Lia say stiffly, ‘You really shouldn’t have gone to this trouble.’
He held out Lia’s chair and she had to sit down, very aware of him behind her.
As he came around and took his own seat he drawled, ‘It took an eight-hour plane journey and a two-hour time difference to get you to have dinner with me, so a little effort is worth it, I think.’
Lia looked at him and had to figure that most men wouldn’t have bothered pursuing her this far—or they would be resenting the trouble they’d gone to. A man she’d dated briefly before her ex-fiancé had turned nasty when she’d been less than eager to jump into bed after their first date. It was one of the reasons she’d liked Simon—because he’d respected her boundaries. Little had she known that he was being respectful because he was eyeing up a chance to get a permanent foothold in the legal team who represented her father’s company, and because his ‘needs’ were being met elsewhere.
But Carter was still here, and it felt as if he had stormed into her life, blasting apart the cynicism she’d built around herself after her parents’ break-up and her disastrous engagement.
The consequences if she was to unbend even slightly and give in to his seduction were suddenly terrifying to contemplate—because Lia knew now that he’d already slid under her skin enough to make an impact that she really didn’t want to acknowledge.
For him this was just about a conquest—personal and professional. Of
that she had no doubt.
She leaned forward slightly. ‘Look, Mr Carter... I know that this is about my father as much as you say it’s about me—’
But she had to stop as Esmé appeared with their starters—beautifully prepared individual ravioli in a cream and mushroom sauce. Lia didn’t miss the all-too-interested look the woman sent to each of them.
When they were alone again he responded. ‘First of all, my name is Ben. Second of all, the fact that I have a professional interest in your father is common knowledge. Many others have—not just me. Your father has never had a problem protecting his interests, so unless something has changed he is perfectly safe, no matter what happens between us. And thirdly...when I saw your photo in the matchmaker’s portfolio I wanted you before I knew who you were.’
The words sat between them in the thick silence. Fatally, all Lia registered was that he’d wanted her before he’d known who she was. And, God help her, that struck deep. It was like when she’d been standing on that dais and someone had wanted her enough to bid a small fortune for her...an elusive stranger she’d thought she wanted. Who was him. The man sitting across from her now, blue eyes glinting. Handsome as sin.
This man was dangerous to her because he made her yearn for things she’d thought she could live without—for deeply personal desires to be fulfilled. For a man to touch her and make her come alive. Prove to her that she wasn’t defective in some way...
And then she thought of what he’d said about her father. The truth was that her father was vulnerable—he needed to retire and there was no one he trusted enough to take over the business. Lia realised that she was leading Carter to question her father’s robustness when she should be taking the opportunity to deflect it.
She had to give a little...or he’d smell blood.
She forced herself to relax slightly and sucked in a breath. ‘Fine. Ben it is.’ Her heart thumped as she said his name. It felt ridiculously intimate.